Storage of shoes can occupy a great deal of space, and retrieval of stored shoes can be a very inconvenient process. Accordingly, a variety of purportedly space-saving, convenient-to-use shoe racks have been developed.
One such shoe rack consists of a sprawling frame normally positioned on the floor of the environment of application, the frame having a plurality of support members that support each individual shoe above the floor. Disadvantages of such a shoe rack include being unsightly and consuming valuable floor space (usually closet floor space). Further, such shoe racks are awkward to use because they require the user to bend over, often in cramped quarters, to store or retrieve shoes. Additionally, they are usually positioned in areas that are poorly lit, thereby hampering the user's selection of the desired shoes.
A second type of shoe rack, an over-the-door shoe rack, consists of a frame having a plurality of support members for supporting individual shoes, and a pair of spaced-apart mounting mechanisms coupled to the frame and placed over the top of the door to support the frame as the frame rests against one surface (usually the inside surface) of the door. This over-the-door shoe rack avoids the use of valuable floor space, is easily accessible, and is positioned in an area normally possessing proper lighting. However, this type of shoe rack possesses the disadvantages of being unsightly and of restricting the full range of motion of the door. Further, as the frame swings away from the surface of the door, and back, during opening and closing of the door, the result is the creation of noise and potential damage to the door.
A third type of shoe rack, a rotary shoe rack, consists of a stationary (nonrotatable) pole extending between a lower surface and an upper surface, and a plurality of trays rotatably mounted along the vertical length of the pole. Each tray has a plurality of shoe support members disposed about the periphery of the tray, and a bearing assembly that allows rotation of the tray. While the rotary shoe rack overcomes some of the problems associated with the two aforementioned shoe racks, the rotary shoe rack does possess the disadvantages of being relatively unsightly and of allowing the shoes to dangle from the shoe support members in an unstable fashion. Further, a significant volume of space is required because the shoes are disposed as much as twelve inches away from the pole. Additionally, such a shoe rack is relatively expensive to produce due to the bearing assembly required for each tray.
As a result, there has been a long-felt need for a shoe rack that: (1) is rotatable to provide convenient deposit and retrieval of shoes; (2) is extendible to fit a range of upper surface-to-lower surface applications; (3) is aesthetically pleasing; (4) supports the shoes in a stable manner; (5) is space efficient; and (6) is relatively inexpensive to produce. The present invention is directed to satisfying this need.